Loren Toovey rides his horse, Buddy, into the drive-thru at Jones Bank in Seward on June 3.
Neighbors and passersby alike may have seen Loren Toovey riding horseback around his Pleasant Dale farm. He's always welcomed a wave and greeting, a personable touch to the occasional isolation. Health precautions related to the novel coronavirus only furthered his appetite for ordinary conversation.
When conversation between him and his wife, Sharon, wasn't enough, he chased the conversation and crossed another item off the bucket list.
Toovey turned 75 earlier this year and wanted to ride his horse into Seward. He rode into the Runza drive-thru in Milford before but never made it to Seward. So he saddled 14-year-old Buddy, picked up Sharon, and the two rode to Seward, running a few friendly errands on June 3.
Having arrived in Seward in the mid-Wednesday morning, Loren stopped at State Farm to pay a bill. The Tooveys then went down to Jones Bank, where Buddy stood neck-and-neck with a black sedan that held a few more horsepower, to deposit a check in the drive-thru window.
Loren noticed a Seward County deputy parked in front of city hall across the street and asked if he was breaking the law somehow.
“Is this illegal?” he chuckled. “This might be my first ticket since 1969.”
He waved at the officer. No ticket this time. So the Tooveys trotted away with another item crossed off Loren's to-do list.
